hOW TO START A VIDEO MINISTRY

​10 COMMANDMENTS OF DIGITAL MISSIONS

Introduction: How to Start Your Own Video Ministry

If you're wondering how to merge spirituality with digital communications, this is the course for you! Tune in as Justin Khoe from That Christian Vlogger takes you through the 10 Commandments of Digital Missions. Learn from his journey, and get inspired to start or reboot your own video ministry.

That Christian Vlogger is a Christian YouTube channel with over 60,000 subscribers (as of August 2018) that is making a positive impact on those searching for spiritual answers online. His Youtube videos have been seen around the world by over two million people. With over ten years of preaching, literature evangelism, and teaching experience under his belt, Justin’s current focus is to leverage social media to help reach unchurched young adults. Cohosting the show with him is his wife, Emily. Justin and Emily aim to equip young adults to have a stronger and deeper relationship with God and to help them discover who God has created them to be. They call this way of living, “experiencing faith in the first person.”

Youtube Statistics (July 2018):

Over 30 million daily users.

1.5 billion monthly active users.

300 hours of video are uploaded to YT every single minute.

5 billion videos are watched on YT every day.

Average viewing session on mobile is more than 40 minutes (an over 50% increase per year).

Youtube reaches more 18-34 year olds than any cable network in the US.

6/10 people prefer online video platforms to live TV.

YT is the world's second largest search engine and the third most visited site after Google & Facebook.

86% of viewers use YT to learn new things compared to 57% of users who use YT for entertainment purposes​.

Overview of formatEach of the 10 Commandments will include a few elements:

​Commandment #1 - Thou shalt not upload thy church service to Youtube.

How to create an effective video content strategy for your church or ministry. ​One major question that you should ask yourself about any piece of content that is uploaded to social media is, “Why would anyone care to watch or listen?” While uploading your full church service will certainly be a blessing to your current church body, think about each online viewer as a first-time guest.

Before a prospective viewer can get to the actual message, many churches force them to sit through 20-30 minutes of content that is irrelevant to them. Why should someone who has never been to your church care about the announcements, children’s story, special music, or offertory?

Instead of uploading your church’s livestream to YouTube, a better approach would be to optimize your content for this specific platform. Realize that YouTube is a search engine; it’s a social community with it’s own sub culture and set of social norms.Watch this video segment to learn more. ​

Contrary to popular belief, running and starting a church’s YouTube channel doesn’t have to break the bank. It is a myth that you must have a six-figure budget in order to get started.

With the advent of social media, the bar for acceptable picture and video quality has been lowered. Every one of us is used to the notion of watching hours of content per week that was shot on a cell phone.

While it can be easy to be distracted by the shiniest and newest camera or microphone on the block, never forget that content is king. In the long run, valuable content will always beat out expensive equipment.

​Commandment #3 - Thou shalt have a clearly defined target market.

How to determine a clearly defined target market.​As odd as it might sound, in order to reach a large audience, you must stop trying to reach everyone! Think of your YouTube channel as a TV channel. Each channel has a purpose and an intended audience. For example, ESPN focuses on sports, the cooking channel on food, etc.

What is your channel about and who is your channel for? Is it for women? If so, how old are these women? Are they single? College educated? What type of hobbies do they have?

The more you can clearly define your target market, the more success you’ll have in breaking through the noise and reaching your audience.

​Commandment #4 - Remember your channel strategy and keep it focused.

How to develop a channel strategy and keep it focused.​​The easiest way to determine a channel strategy is to ask yourself a few questions about your audience. What are they interested in? What kinds of questions do they have? And what types of problems can you help them solve?

Instead of guessing the answers to these questions, spend time with these people and ask them these questions! Additionally, utilize tools like Google Trends, YouTube search, and other related channels in your niche to do your homework.

Next Step: Identify 5 other YouTube channels that create the type of content that you are looking to create, and start watching their content.

How to optimize your thumbnails, title, and tags and keep them consistent.​While it is true that content is king, it is also true that marketing is queen. On YouTube, the things that most influence your discovery and channel growth (other than quality of content) are your thumbnails, titles, and tags.

Each video that you create should have one focal point or one problem that you’re trying to address. Your thumbnails, title, and tags should all work in unison to communicate that message.

Thumbnails often perform best when they tease a value. Don’t give away the punch line of your video in the thumbnail. Seek to create an emotional response and to give the prospective viewer an incentive to want to click on the video.

Titles should reflect the vernacular of the platform. Use tools like YouTube auto-fill to find out what language people are typing into the search bar as they ask questions. Use the exact wording or variants of that search phrase for your titles.

Tags are used to help people find your videos when they type something into the search bar. However, one or two word tags are often times ineffective as competition levels for those tags are too high. “Bible Study” will be an incredibly difficult tag to rank for. “How to study the Bible” is a more nuanced tag with less competition and a better chance for your video to stand out. “How to study the Bible for teenagers” will be even more effective.

​Commandment #6 - Thou shalt optimize thy channel page.

How and why to optimize your channel page.​Prior to subscribing to your channel, most people visit your channel page to get a bird’s-eye view on what to expect. Many times they’re looking for a few specific things. How many videos have they uploaded (after all, what’s the point of subscribing to a channel with only 2 videos?). How often do they upload (once a week, twice a week?). And what types of videos are they offering?

Spend time organizing your channel page to help answer these questions. Include a channel banner with upload schedule ("New videos on Monday’s & Thursday’s at 9 am PST"), a channel trailer (30-60 second overview of what the channel is all about), and a curated playlists with samples of the types of content you will create.

Next Steps:Write a compelling about page.Design a channel header.Produce a channel trailer.Create 3-5 playlists.

​Commandment #7 - Thou shalt upload consistently.

You should upload consistently to help grow your video ministry's audience.

Done > Perfect. In the realm of social media it is better to have an ongoing stream of mediocre content than a single piece of perfect content. Most people subscribe to a YouTube channel to be a part of that channel's community. But creating a community around a single piece of content every few months is very difficult. Commit to an upload schedule and hit upload without fail to foster that community engagement.

Next Steps:Create an upload schedule for the next 3-6 months (topics & titles).Produce the first month’s worth of content.Start hitting upload!

​Commandment #8 - Thou shalt engage in comments.

Engagement is key to building meaningful relationships and community online that ultimately results in impact.

Treat each comment as you would an in-person conversation. This includes when people ask questions, give praise, or even criticism that is not too constructive. Remember that on the other end of that comment is a real-life person and ask God to give you wisdom on how best to answer their comment.

Next Step: Look back on existing videos and respond to every comment in the last 6 months.

​Commandment #9 - Thou shalt always continue learning.

To be an effective digital missionary, it's essential to always continue learning and adapting.

Social media is one of the most rapidly changing industries out there. In 12 months time there will be social media platforms with millions of engaged users that aren't even launched today (August 2018). Successful content creators make a habit of staying on top of the most recent changes and adjusting their strategies accordingly.

​Commandment #10 -Thou shalt use analytics.

To have a successful video ministry, use analytics to make data-informed strategic decisions.

The most valuable tool for prioritizing and making decisions for future content is the analytics. While it can be very easy to get hung up on comments (both good and bad ones), viewer activity doesn’t lie. Studying metrics like “average minutes watched per video” or “total comments per video” gives you insight into what your audience is truly engaging with.

Next steps:Install vidIQ or tube buddy.Download the YouTube “creator” app for your phone.Explore the analytics tab under “creator studio” on YouTube.